Drier



Dec. 30, 1924. 1,521,416

E. B. AYREs DRIER Filed March 22,V 1920- 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 lu-10aa?? f5. Hymn,

nec. 30, 192@ 1,521,416

E. B. AYRES DRIER Filed March 22, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 30, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

ELWOOD B. AYRES, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE PHILA- DELPHIA TEXTILE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,

A CORPORATION 0F PENNSYLVANIA.

DRIER.

Application led March 22,

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it lknown that I, ELWooD B. Arm-1s, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Driers, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in machines for drying pottery and like articles. One Object of my invention is to provid a machine in which material to be dried is carried by an endless conveyer throuch a drying compartment while subjected to heated air in circulation, the conveyer passing through a cooling 4compartment after the material being dried has been removed therefrom so as to cool the trays on which thel material is to be conveyed after each passage through the drying compartment. A further object of the invention is to construct a drying machine so that the cndless conveyer Will pass alternately )ver guide wheels at the top and bottom of the drying compartment in order that a large number of trays may be accommodated in a comparatively short drying compartment.

Another object of the invention is to construct the drying chamber so that the air can be circulated transversely through the chainber, while the material is 'traveling longitudinally therethrough. i

A still further object of the invention is to provide a machine in which thc material may be subjected to d'iierent degrees of heat, and also to provide a machine in l which the material is subjected to currents of cool air before being discharged from the machine.

These obiects I attain in the following manner, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of one form of apparatus illustrating my invention.

Fi 2 is a transverse sectionalview on thel line 2-2, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view on the line 3-3, Fig. 1.

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 represent a double drying machine, in which the drying compartments are arranged side by side and separated by a central longitudinal partition 3. The compartments are enclosed within a casing 1 of the ordinary construction. The

1920. Serial No. 367,838.

drying compartments are defined by -partitions 18-17-20, as hereafter more partlcularly described, the side walls of the compartments being formed by the outer slde walls of the casing 1 and the partition 3, In each drying compartment is a' part1tion 5 having openings 6 and 7 for the circulation of air. There may be any number of these openings, depending consider- Aably upon the-length of the machine. In

each opening 6 is a fan 8 mounted. on a shaft 9 extending to the outside of the casing 1. The shaft may be driven by any suitable means. Heating ipes are located at an convenient point sot atv the air in circulation will be properly heated. In the present instance, these pipes are located back of the partition 5, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. In the specific structure shown, thc partitlon 5 may be said to provide the drying compartment with a drying chamber 2 and a heating chamber in which the heating pipes 4 are located, and said chambers also serve respectiyely as a diifusingrlchamberj and a return air duct within tlie drying compartment, the air in circulation travelling in a definite circuit as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2.

10 is an endless conveyer shown in diagram in Fig. V1. In the present instance suspended from the conveyer are trays 11 pivoted at 12 so that the bottom of each tray is always in ahorizontal plane.

In Fig. l, I have shown the drying compartment and the chamber 2 subdivided by vertical partitions 19 'extending transversely across the compartment. In the present instance, these partitions extend from the roof of the casing to a point near the' lower guide wheels around which the conveyer passes. The drying compartment is separated from a cooling compartment with its cooling chamber 2a by a partition 20, and a vertical partition 22, similar to the partition 19, divides the cooling compartment into a large and a small section. At the front end of the drying machine is a narrow compartment 2b and at the opposite end is a narrow compartment 2 through which the conveyer extends. In the bottom of the drying machine is a cooling channel, 16, which communicates with the cooling chamber 2 and also with the section 2b at the forward end of the machine.. Located at given.v intervals throughout the length of the drier at the upper portion thereof is a series of guide Wheels 13 and alternatingv v stance, and .the guide Wheel 15 at the discharge end of the machine lbeing located within the chamber 2. These guide wheels are so located that the return run of the conveyer will Itravel through the cooling channel, 16, as clearly shown in. Fig. 1. As will readily be seen from the drawings,l the path traversed by the endless conveyer within the inclosure is circuitous. v

The cooling channel 16 is se arated from the drying chamber by a horizontal partition 17. .This partition stops at the vertical vpartition` 2O and the cooling channel 16 communicates with the cooling'chamber 2, as shown.v One or more of the shafts in which the upper wheelsare mounted may be Yused as driving shafts, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and the conveyer is loaded at the forward end of the machine, as at a, the tray being designed to receive the articles to Vbe dried. It will Ybe seen that by the U-shaped partitionunit comprising partitions 18.-17-2O,v a space or section of the machine is divided off from the rest of the machine including lcooling channell 16, and within said space orsection` thus divided off the air is heatedl and circulated and the drying operation performed, and

vgrec than the air in the other.

it4 is' to this heating or dryingsection that the.l circulation of heated air islconlined.

HAS the conveyer passes through the drying chamber 2, the fans 8 circulate the heatedair through two subdivisions' thereof and, if 'desiredQthefair in one of said two subdivisionm'ay'be heated to a greater d erI/hen the conveyer passes into the cooling cham-k ber 2, in the present instance, so as to reduce the temperature of the articles being dried and'also to reduce thetemperatureuof the trays carryingthe articles. vAfterthe articles have been removed through the opening indicated at b at the discharge end of the machine,the conveyer, with the empty trays, passes vthrough the cooling channel, 16, yso that-When the trays reach theloading point they arecooled suiiiciently to receive the articles to be dried. n

I. claim: Y

The -combinationrin a drying machine, of a casingya dryingfcompar'tment lmade in two sections; means for circulating air in each section; a series of .vertical partitions extending to the top of the casing; a horizontalpartition near the bottom of the machine separating the drying compartment from acooling chamber; a cooling chamberl at one end ofthe machine;y means for circulating air therein, the` ,latterjcooling chamber communicating with the first'mentioned cooling chamber; an upper and lower set of Wheels, the lower wheels alternating with the upper wheels; and a conveyer passing around theseveral wheels and through the twodrying compartments and the .cool A ing chamber, the return run of theconveyer passing through the lower coolingchamber.

. ELwooDB. Avans. 

